Page 99 of Counterfeit Connection

“Well, you lied about your relationship with Griffin to my face and under my roof. You made Gillian complicit in that lie to me and everyone as well. I’m not sure I know who you even are right now.”

His statement takes my breath away. “You what? Dad, I’m the woman you and Mom raised. I was always taught to help friends in need. I was taught people are innocent until proven guilty. I was taught you’d love me no matter what I could do. If any of that has changed, please let me know.”

I hear my father take a long, cleansing breath. “No. None of that has changed. How about you give me the short version of the truth?”

The sheet I’m holding to my chest starts to shake inside my fingers. “How I met Griffin, all the time we spent together, all the things we know about each other is absolutely true. The only part you don’t know is, his father is a manipulative piece of shit and wouldn’t give him his birthright at Orion unless he was in a committed relationship. I’m not going to break Griffin’sconfidence about all the reasons why. He can tell you if you give him a chance to. All I can say now is what started out as a facade is now real. He is real. Daddy, I love him.”

“Pixie, I’m not even sure what to think anymore. I’ve seen more of you than any father ever should. I am angry, sad, and disappointed.”

I hang my head in shame. “How did you find out about the lie?”

“Keep opening articles and those Insta-whatevers. You’ll find out.”

I open another link, this time from Katarina and it’s a long article with still images of my naked body. My eyes quickly scan the words and see that an “anonymous source” confirmed our relationship started as a sham, or as they call it “a scheme to line my pockets and push Griffin ahead in his career.”

I look at the next link and close it when I see the word WHORE plastered over my face.

“I feel like I’m going to be sick.” I can feel the color draining from my face.

A distant door closing and footsteps pull my attention as I swing my head around to see Griffin marching into the room, his color not drained, but red with anger. “Let me.”

It wasn’t a question, but a soft demand. I need a minute to process and hope I don’t spew last night’s dinner everywhere in the process. “Hello, Sam.”

“Griffin, I don’t know that I can talk to you right now. I don’t take very well to people who encourage my child to lie, let alone to my face in my own home.”

“Let’s take this point by point, shall we? While she is your child, she is also an adult capable of making choices for herself. This was something we spoke about at length and she was comfortable with it. She even had it sealed contractually withNDAs. Clearly those don’t mean shit, and I will have balls in a jar on my desk when I sort out who dared to break them.

“Secondly, I cannot tell you how monumentally sorry I am for deceiving you in any way. I genuinely respect you and no matter what you might currently believe, I appreciate our candor and relationship.

“Lastly, and I’m sure Kaitlyn has likely reiterated this to you, I love your daughter. I don’t know when it happened exactly, but I would literally take a bullet for her. She is the sunshine in my life I didn’t know was missing. In this situation, I failed to protect her as I should have. I’ll fix this. I swear to you, on my honor as a man and hers at that.”

I can feel a knot forming in my throat as well as my stomach. I walk in a daze, clutching the sheet wrapped to my body, over to the balcony that was going to hold a private memory for us, but now it’s tainted for the whole world to see.

I slide the glass door open, needing the fresh air, and step outside.

I’ve barely placed my hands on the railing before I can hear the car horns calling for my attention. I look down and the streets outside of the building are covered by reporters, cameras, and people.

“Oh God,” I say, running back inside and slamming the glass closed. “Griffin…”

He’s still speaking with my father. “I understand. I promise, Sam, I won’t let her be hurt by this. Here’s Kaitlyn back for you.”

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Kaitlyn?”

“Please tell me you love me. That’s what I really need to hear right now.”

“I love you. I do. I need to go though. I just…I need to go. Goodbye, sweetheart.”

The line goes dead before I can say it back. I always say it back. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to speak to me right now.

I fight the urge to throw my phone at the floor in frustration and just stare at Griffin with tears in my eyes. “They’re everywhere.”

“Come here, baby.”

He holds his arms open for me and I practically fall into them. “He’s so mad,” I sob. “The free world knows as much about me as my gynecologist does, and more. How did we get here?”

“We got here because we were violated. A motherfucking prick violated you. I’ll fix this, Kaitlyn. I promise you.”

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